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They complain when Facebook decides to change the look of the social network (think, Timeline), and then they want to make pointless cosmetic changes of their own – such as changing Facebook from its traditional blue to a garish pink.

That’s the lure being used by some Facebook scams actively spreading across the system right now:

AWESOME!HELLO Pink FACEBOOK!!!I am able to select from 5 different color themes and change the old blue Facebook! Choose yours now -->[LINK]

If you visit one of the links purporting to give you access to a different Facebook colour scheme, you’ll find an all too familiar story.. a webpage asking you to “verify” (verify what? it doesn’t make clear..) before you can receive the ability to change Facebook’s colour scheme.

On this occasion, the scammers want you to grant permission for a rogue application to access your profile, and post messages on your behalf.

With a rogue application in place, the scammers will be able to use your Facebook profile as a launchpad for spreading their message even further. And they want to spread it far and wide because it leads ultimately to an online survey that earns commission for the bad guys.

The end result of all this is that thousands of people who have given a third party application, written by persons unknown, complete access to their Facebook page. That means they can later use your Facebook account to post spam messages, distribute other money-making scams, steal your personal information, and post in your name.

Victims should remove any posts made by the apps, before their Facebook friends also fall for them, and revoke the app’s permission to access their Facebook profile.

Make sure that you keep informed about the latest scams spreading fast across Facebook and other internet attacks. Join the Sophos page on Facebook, where over 160,000 people regularly share information on threats and discuss the latest security news.

11 comments on “The Pink Facebook rogue application and survey scam”

I can tell its a scam because facebook would not allow anyone to change its Blue and white colour to anything else thats how I know its a scam, Blue and White is facebooks colours and its gonna stay like that

Once again I find myself wondering. Why is it that scammers seem to be more in touch with what the people want than facebook is? All facebook need to do to kill this particular scam once and for all is simply to offer some color customization. Somehow I am willing to bet that is a LOT easier than making that timeline monster that few people actually wanted.

My stepdaughter has kindly "infected" my pc with this nasty pink gunk and it would appear to be affecting my use of public forums other than FB but since she did it from her own FB profile, I can't remove it… or can I? It seems to be tacking a link onto the bottom of my posts, although NOT on FB. Any tips?